Memories
by KateCayce
Summary: This is a series of snapshots of the life of Kate Cayce, who I introduced in Second Chance.
1. Beginnings

**Memories**

Haley started laughing while her Aunt Vickie was brushing her hair. "I'm so happy," The seven-year old declared.

"Why are you so happy, little miss?" Vickie pulled Haley close.

"Because Mommy and Daddy are bringing home my baby sister today."

"Yech, babies." Solomon made a face where he was sitting on the floor, reading a book. "All they do is eat, sleep, and poop."

"Solomon." Vickie gave her son the look.

"Sorry, Mom."

Haley gave her friend an imperious look down her nose. "Just because you are too boyish to like babies doesn't mean that they aren't cute and tiny."

"And your baby sister is perfect, I suppose." Solomon challenged.

"Of course, she's a Cayce. And she's my sister." Haley turned her head when she heard the front door open. "They're here!"

Jonathan Cayce held the door open for his wife Katherine as she carried their new daughter into the house. He had to laugh as he saw his older practically jumping for joy as they came in.

"Getting a little antsy that we wouldn't get here soon enough?"

Haley smiled and held out her arms to be picked up. "I couldn't wait for Katie to come home so we could show her the nursery she's got."

"Haley, do you want to hold her?" Katherine asked as she got out of her coat while Vickie was holding and cooing at the new arrival.

Haley's eyes got big. "Yes, Mommy!"

"Well, then sit on the couch."

Haley did as she was told. Her mother arranged a few pillows around her, and taking the baby from Vickie, placed Katie in her big sister's arms.

"Hi, Katie. I'm your big sister Haley." She told the baby, looking very solemn. "I'm supposed to look out for you and protect you like big sisters do. But I'll do it because I love you." Haley leaned slightly to kiss the baby's forehead.

Jonathan put his arms around Katherine. "I guess we don't have to worry about them not getting along."

- 2 -

"Mommy!" Katie woke from the dream she was having.

Katherine and Jonathan ran into Katie's room.

"What is it, baby?" Katherine pulled Katie into her arms as Jonathan went on the other side of the bed.

"I had a bad dream."

Her parents looked at each other over her head.

"What was it about?" Jonathan asked gently.

"I dreamed that Haley went away and never came back." Katie looked her Dad in the eye.

"Katie, Haley did walk in the woods and go missing." Katherine told her as she smoothed her hair away from her face.

"No! That's in my dream." Katie violently shook her head as her parents tried to hold her.

Katherine and Jonathan both heard someone banging on the front door.

"Who could that be at this hour?" Katherine scooped up Katie to follow Jonathan downstairs.

Jonathan answered the door to find some of the village headmen there with a fur-covered bundle. He moved out of the way as the men placed the bundle on the sofa.

"What have you brought?" Jonathan asked the men in the local dialect.

"Your girl." The village men turned around and left the house.

Katherine and Jonathan looked at each other before he went to unwrap the bundle.

"Be careful, honey." Katherine set Katie down in the rocking chair, then moved to help her husband.

The bundle moved.

Jonathan jumped back, slightly afraid of what the men had brought into the house.

"Mmmmm." A sound came from inside the furs.

Jonathan uncovered a face, and then nearly wept for joy. "Haley!"

Katherine joined him in uncovering their sleeping daughter. "Haley, wake up, please!"

Haley opened her eyes. "Mom, Dad. I'm sorry I went into the forest."

"That's okay, baby. You're home now. That's all that counts now." Jonathan assured her as he sent a look to his wife.

Katie scooted out of the rocker and knelt down by her sister. "You came back."

"I missed you Katie." Haley hugged her sister as her parents got her into a sitting position.

"I dreamed you never came back." Katie looked at her sister with wide eyes.

"I'll always come back. I swear." Haley held out her pinkie to Katie.

"Pinkie swear?" Katie linked her pinkie with Haley's.

"Yeah, pinkie swear."

- 3 -

Twelve-year-old Kate walked into the house after getting out of school early. "Mom, are you here?"

"Come in the living room." Kate heard someone say from another room.

Kate followed the voice to the living room. She walked in on her sister Haley and Haley's boyfriend Solomon sitting on the couch. Solomon's parents, who were friends with Kate's parents since their own college days, stood by the window.

"What are you all doing here? I didn't know you were visiting Mom and Dad." Kate looked at her Uncle Alexander and Aunt Vickie.

"Katie, something has happened." Haley stood to look her sister in the eye.

"Where's Mom? She's usually here when I get home from school." Kate was getting confused.

Alexander moved towards Kate. "Kate, there's been an accident."

"What do you mean? Mom broke her leg or something?" Kate was starting to get a very bad feeling.

Haley took hold of her sister's hands. "Kate, look at me. Mom and Dad went out for a lunch date, and there was a car accident."

"Now Dad can't get mad when you put a dent in the car." Kate snickered.

"Kate!" Haley squeezed her hands. "Mom and Dad were…" Her voice choked.

Alexander stepped forward. "Kate, what your sister is trying to tell you is that your parents were very badly hurt in that accident, and they didn't make it." He tried to break it as gently as possible.

Kate looked at the adult. "No, Mom is going to come home and make dinner in just a bit. She said this morning that we were going to have pork chops and mashed potatoes." She looked at her sister. "She promised."

Haley's façade crumbled as she held out her arms. "Oh Katie, they're gone."

Kate fell into them and wailed "No!"

- 4 -

A week later, Haley and Kate were faced with some decisions on how they were going to live their lives.

"Kate is going to come back to New Jersey with Solomon and me." Haley turned to each of her aunts and uncles and dared them to defy her.

"Of course. Your parents didn't want it any other way. Now that you are an adult. They stipulated that in the codicil to their wills." Alexander Zond took Haley's hand. "They didn't want you two to be broken up."

"Did I hear the lawyer right? On the insurance money?" Haley was still trying to process the dollar amount the lawyer had told her earlier.

"Yes, and if you sell this house, you and Kate could live comfortably for the rest of your lives." Paul Taylor put his arm around Kate.

"But it won't bring them back." Kate stated in a very small voice.

Paul pulled her even closer and kissed her hair. "No, it won't." He looked at Alexander before asking the question. "Do you want to live with Haley and Solomon?"

Kate turned her head to smile at him. "Of course."

Alexander nodded. "We had to ask that, Haley."

Haley smiled. "I know. We all have to agree on this. Now, how does one go about selling a house?"


	2. Love and Other Complications

5 -

"Hey, Kate, when is the ceremony?" Solomon poked his head in his sister-in-law's bedroom.

"At 2pm, I guess. What did it say on the invitation?" Kate came out of her bath, fastening her towel as a turban.

"I think Nikko shredded the card." Solomon grimaced.

"He is in his 'el destructo' phase. He'll grow out of it. Eventually." Kate laughed.

"And I thought the two's were supposed to be terrible."

"And the three's and four's…." Kate and Solomon both laughed.

"What's so funny?" Three-year-old Nikko Zond poked his head in under his dad.

"You are, boy." Kate made a kissy face at her nephew as he laughed.

"Oh, by the way, have you made up your mind on going to Paris?" Solomon asked.

"I think I deserve a summer off to play, don't you?" Kate tickled Nikko.

"But I'll miss you, Aunt Kate!" Nikko grabbed her around her neck.

"I'll be back in the fall for school." Kate made a face. "I still have to get my masters' and PhD, you know."

"And you'll be the youngest doctoral candidate in a long time." Solomon looked very proudly at Kate.

"Oh, no. Not the proud brother-in-law look!" Kate tickled Nikko as they both laughed at Solomon.

- 6 -

A few weeks later, Kate was making her way down the Champs Elysee when she stopped at one of the sidewalk cafés. Soon after her server brought her café-au-lait, Kate looked up from the book she was reading to notice a man looking at her from one of the other tables. She wasn't sure about this guy. Before she realized what had happened, the man got up from his table and walked over to her table.

"Is anyone sitting here?" His voice was deep and rich, with a hint of an accent that Kate could not place—maybe a bit British, but definitely something more.

"Uh, no." Kate was flustered by this man.

"Have you been to Paris before?"

"Many times. My parents brought us here when we were kids."

"You and…."

"My sister." God, his eyes were hypnotic!

"Is she with you this time?"

"No, I am alone." Kate realized a split second too late that that was not what you told a strange man in a foreign city. He could be a serial killer, after all!

"What is your name?"

"What's your name?" Kate smiled at the man.

"Vincent Siminou."

"Kate Cayce."

"Nice to meet you, Kate Cayce. What do you do for a living?"

Kate gestured with her book. "I am a professional student at this time in my life."

Vincent chuckled. "Been in school a long time?"

"It only feels that way. I have more to go—my masters and doctorates. What do you do?" Kate challenged the man.

"I work in setting up security for several wealthy clients." Vincent looked up at Kate through his eyelashes.

"Meet anyone famous?" Kate laughed.

"Only a few heads of state, a couple of minor royals, and the occasional rock star." Vincent laughed back at Kate.

"Do you want to have dinner?" Kate asked.

Vincent looked a little surprised by the question. "Yes, but I thought I was supposed to do the asking."

"This is the 20th century. The woman can ask just as well as the man."

"Tonight? Shall I pick you up at your lodgings"

Kate looked at Vincent. "Yes."

- 7 -

The couple spent a lot of time together over the next couple of months, and parted in August with promises of calls and letters. Kate flew back to the States, and soon got settled back into the house she shared with Haley, Solomon, and little Nikko. Their days fell back into the pattern of work, school, and family.

"Kate, can I talk to you?" Solomon nabbed Kate as she came in from classes one day in October.

"Sure." Kate followed him into his study, where Haley already was sitting at the desk. "What's this about?"

Haley took a deep breath. "You know that guy you met in Paris?"

"You mean Vincent?" Kate's eyes got a bit starry when she said his name.

"Uncle Paul sent me some information on him." Solomon pulled a manila envelope from underneath a book on the desk.

"You had Paul check up on him?" Kate yelled.

"No, we didn't. Paul came across this information and remembered that you had met him this summer." Haley tried to defuse her sister's anger.

"Paul found out that this Vincent Siminou works for the organization that is trying to shut down Haley's work." Solomon pulled a bunch of photographs out of the envelope and passed them to Kate.

"You mean Dorna? I thought they were just a fabrication of that guy Tollan. You know, to scare you into giving up some of those artifacts you found." Kate looked back and forth from Haley to Solomon.

"No, they exist. And they want my research. And they want to stop me." Haley nodded toward the photos in Kate's hands.

Kate began to look through the pictures. There was one of Vincent with that guy Tollan, and then one of Vincent with Tollan and some other men.

"So he is the enemy." Kate said, her voice flat.

Solomon sighed. "Yeah, afraid so."

"We debated telling you this for a while." Haley looked her sister in the eye.

Kate looked at her sister with tears in her eyes. "I'm going to go have a good cry over this, then I'll write a 'Dear John' letter to Vincent." Kate paused to hug her sister, then left the room.

"We had to tell her, Haley. She needed to know who this guy is and what he does to people." Solomon went to rub his wife's shoulders.

"I wish we didn't have to hurt her in the process."

Solomon leaned to kiss his wife. "Our baby girl is going to have to grow up sometime."

- 8 –

Kate turned the key in her hotel room door, and went inside. She was tired after a day full of lectures and talks at this conference Solomon and Haley insisted she attend on behalf of the Veritas Foundation in San Francisco. She had to smile at the thought of the foundation, which the three of them had put together just a few months before with the blessings of her surrogate uncles Alexander Zond and Paul Taylor. They had worked hard for this, and Kate knew that with her sister's theories on history, their fellow historians and archaeologists would have to sit up and take notice.

It took Kate a minute after she switched on the lamp to notice the man sitting in the chair by the window. He was sitting in the shadows, and after he turned on the small lamp next to him, Kate threw her bag onto the bed.

"Great, just what I need. One of the goon squad trying to intimidate me." Kate glared at the man.

"I just need a few moments of your time." Vincent slowly stood up to face Kate.

"Are you armed?" Kate wasn't taking any chances after the last couple of months of harassment from Dorna.

"No."

Kate put her hands on her hips and began to tap her right foot. "So what do you want?"

Vincent sat for a moment, contemplating what to say. "I am sorry for deceiving you in Paris."

Kate glared at him. "You seduce me and then break my heart, and you are sorry?"

"I understand your anger, but I was told to follow you while you were in Paris. I was not supposed to make any contact with you on a personal level." He captured her eyes. "Any contact we had was something I decided to do on my own."

"You went against your orders?"

"And I was punished for it by my superiors." Vincent looked away. "I didn't intend to fall in love."

Kate started laughing. "You want me to believe that you were in love with me? How gullible do you think I still am? I am not that naïve little girl that I was four years ago."

Vincent glared at Kate. "I did not break into your hotel room to rehash our past history."

Kate turned her back on him and removed her jacket. "Why did you?"

"I need help."

"How could I possibly EVER help you?"

Vincent took a deep breath. "I want out of Dorna."

Kate spun around. "What?"

"You heard me, but I will repeat it: I want out of Dorna. It will be hard for me to leave on my own." Vincent stared into Kate's eyes. "Unless I am in a coffin, Tollan will not let me go without a fight."

Kate hung her head so Vincent couldn't see her face clearly. "You want me to believe you would give up all the power you have now to come over to our side?"

Vincent knew he had to convince her of a few things. "I no longer believe that Dorna's mission."

"You mean the one where you guys keep a possibly different historical timeline from the general public?"

Vincent looked serious. "Haley is getting to be a thorn in Tollan's side."

Kate had a thought flash into her mind. "So Haley is getting close to the truth."

"She's at least getting into same ballpark. I know things that could help her in her search."

"What makes you think that Solomon and Haley want anything to do with you? "

Vincent smiled at Kate. "I will just have to convince them…."

A couple of days later, Kate is sitting in the family's home office, trying to convince Solomon and Haley that Vincent seriously wants their help.

"He may have more information on Dorna that could be helpful." Kate was about ready to ring Solomon's neck.

"And what if he betrays us to Dorna? We aren't exactly in the same league as them, and they don't play fair." Solomon was about ready to strangle Kate for believing that man.

"Why don't we help Vincent leave Dorna, and work with him on a trial run?" Haley trying to be the voice of reason in the room, but both of them had a point. "Besides, didn't Uncle Alex tell us about a Dorna agent who was getting rather unhappy with Tollan? I guess he meant Vincent."

Solomon conceded to his wife. "Okay, we'll help him out, but he has a tail on him at all times."

Kate nodded. "I wouldn't do anything less myself. I believe him, but he has a long way to go to prove his loyalty to Veritas."


	3. Devastation

9 –

About a year later, Kate and Vincent helped Solomon and Haley load the last of the gear into the small plane. Haley had the summer off and was taking Nikko with her on a dig while Solomon had classes to teach for summer school. Kate was going on a different dig with her Uncle Alex, and Vincent was tagging along, hoping to rekindle their long-ago romance.

"Hey, don't miss me too much, boy." Kate ruffled Nikko's hair.

"Nah, I won't. I'm going with Mom, so I won't be lonely."

Kate knelt in front of Nikko. "You make sure and give her a big hug and kiss every day for me and your Daddy, okay?"

Nikko gave Kate a big hug. "You mean like this?"

Haley laughed as she walked over to them. "Just like that."

Kate looked Haley in the eye after hugging her older sister. "You be careful. This site is completely unknown to you and there could be hidden traps."

"Yes, Mother." Haley made Kate laugh at that.

"I'll miss not working with you Hale." Kate started to get teary.

"You and Alex will finish your dig in record time and come help me out on my dig." Haley squeezed her hand.

"I know, but I just get bad feelings when we aren't working together."

"You mean the Three Musketeers?" Solomon came over and out his arm on Haley's shoulders.

"Nothing could happen on a dig that we couldn't handle." Kate poked Solomon in the chest.

- 10 –

A week into the dig, Alex took a call at the farmhouse they were using as a headquarters. The call was short, and he went back out to where Kate and Vincent had just uncovered a very old piece of pottery. He watched them prepare the object for transportation, and then called them over.

"What's up?" Kate reached into a cooler under the desk for bottles of water and handed them to Vincent and Alex, keeping one for herself.

"I just got a call from Solomon."

"Oh?" Kate took a swig from her bottle, recapped it, and held it to her brow.

Alex gave Vincent a look which Kate didn't see because her eyes were closed.

Vincent had a flash of panic as he looked at Kate. "Kate, why don't you sit down and rest for a minute or two."

"So what was the call about Uncle Alex?" Kate opened her eyes as she sat in the camp chair.

"He got word from Mikhail that there was an accident."

Kate dropped the water bottle. "What happened?"

Alex could hear the fear in her voice, but she had to know. "There was a cave-in. Mikhail got Nikko out safely."

"And Haley?" Kate's voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Alex knelt before Kate and took her hands. "Solomon said that some of Dorna's men are keeping everyone away from the site, so they can't search for her."

"Is she … dead?" Kate was shaking as tears spilled from her eyes.

"They are pretty sure, but they can't go get her body." Alex pulled Kate into a hug.

Kate straightened up in the camp seat. "Vincent?"

"Yes, Kate." He walked over and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Can you take me there?"

"I will start making the arrangements." Vincent looked down at Alex, nodded, and then left them to make some phone calls.

"Uncle Alex, do you think Haley is dead?" Kate looked hopefully at him.

"Katie, I hope she is fine, but we have to be realistic. Best case is that she is badly injured. Worst case is that she is dead." Alex kissed Kate on her forehead, and then got to his feet. "Let's go get packed,"

The next day, the three of them were met by Mikhail at a small airport an hours' drive from where he and Haley had set up their camp.

"Mik, what happened?" Kate asked after they were safely in the rented SUV.

"We had found the site of the temple, and had found the main chamber." He turned a bit in the passenger seat as Vincent drove. "Haley and I were astounded to find a diagram of the solar system in large jewel-like stones on one wall. The part that really was amazing was that the Sun was in the center of the layout, not Earth."

"That's not possible." Kate looked confused. "Haley thought that temple was a couple of millennia older than Copernicus."

"That's what confused us too. Haley reached her hand toward the Sun stone, and it lit up."

"What!" Alex shook his head in disbelief.

"That's what we were thinking. Haley had me get Nikko out, and we were at the entrance when Haley must have touched the stone. It let out this huge flash of light, and the next thing I knew, the temple was shaking like there was an earthquake. I got Nikko out as fast as I could." Mikhail looked sorrowfully at Kate. "But there was no way to get to Haley."

Kate leaned forward to touch Mikhail. "She told you to get Nikko out, and you did. Don't feel guilty for doing that."

Everyone was silent for the rest of the journey until they reached a barricade. Vincent stopped the SUV, and Kate and Alex got out to talk to the guards.

"Can we get past? My sister was in the temple when it collapsed." Kate tried to appeal to the guard.

"No one is to enter the site." The guard pulled his semi-automatic rifle from behind him, and held it, relaxed, in front of his chest. "You must leave this site."

Kate looked back at Vincent as he exited the vehicle. "They won't let us in."

Vincent looked at the guard. "Hello, Adam."

The guard looked very uneasy. "You betrayed Dorna. You are nothing. You and the rest of your party must leave this site per the orders of the government of this country."

Kate knew she had to turn on the waterworks. "Please, just let me look around for a little bit. My sister may be dead or hurt out there." Kate sobbed to the guard.

"The temple site has been excavated, and there was no body found, either dead or alive." The guard moved his rifle to point at Vincent. " I really must insist that you leave. NOW."

Kate, Vincent, and Alex turned and walked back to the vehicle. As they got in, Mikhail questioned them.

"What did the guard say? I couldn't read his lips from here."

Kate looked up at him, amazed. "He said they didn't find a body."

"What?" Mik was confused.

"Dorna had the site excavated, and no body was found." Vincent clarified for Mikhail. "Kate?"

Kate looked over at Vincent. "Yes?"

"Don't read too much into this. They could be lying just to get us away from the site."

Kate closed her eyes. "I was just hoping that…." She looked over at Alex.

Alex pulled her into his arms. "I know, baby girl."

Mikhail guided Vincent to the camp, where Solomon was waiting with a shell-shocked Nikko. Kate's heart broke all over again looking at the forlorn face of her nephew and the sheer pain in Solomon's eyes.

"Solomon?" Kate walked over to where he was sitting with a sleeping Nikko on his lap.

"What? Oh Katie, she's…." Tears slipped out of Solomon's eyes as he recognized his wife's sister.

"I know." Kate leaned over to kiss him. "How is Nikko?"

Solomon looked down at his precious boy. "He's still in shock and denying that Haley's dead."

Paul knelt in front of Solomon. "Do you want me to take him so you can rest and eat?"

Solomon shook his head. "Thanks, but every time I try to close my eyes, I keep seeing…."

Kate and Paul looked at each other.

"I know what you mean. Remember just after Mom and Dad died?" Kate put her arm around Solomon.

"Yeah, you turned into a little ghost. Just walking around their house, not eating or sleeping."

"Let me take Nikko for a bit. Okay?" Kate looked deep into the eyes of the man who was much more than a brother-in-law to her.

Solomon rested his forehead on Kate's. "Just for a bit."


	4. Hope and Annihilation

11 -

Kate felt ready to explode. Trying to translate the tablet was one of the hardest jobs she had ever had. She felt more and more like she was just making up the language, since what was on the stone didn't make any sense.

"Having trouble?" Vincent set a cup of coffee by her right hand.

Kate gave him a dirty look as he sat across from her. "No, I like to create a new language out of the obviously screwed up mess that this one is!"

Vincent got back up and moved behind Kate to massage her shoulders. "You could take a little break."

Kate let out the breath she had been holding. "I will in a few minutes. I just want to finish this section, so the whole top half won't make any sense."

"Is it really that bad?" Vincent leaned closer so his head was next to Kate's.

Kate turned her head so if she leaned forward a bit, their lips would touch. _Wow, where did that thought come from? _"Uh," she stammered, "They flip from talking about the harvest to talking about the time of year to have sex to ensure a son will be born to talking about their ritual tattoos. It just goes all over the place."

"That would be confusing." Vincent took the pencil out of Kate's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked as Vincent placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Kissing you." Vincent lowered his head and with his hands on either side of her face, kissed Kate.

When the kiss finally broke, Kate lowered her forehead to his chest. _Wow, that was better than I remember! _Her eyes opened wide as she still was looking down. _I still have feelings for him!_

Vincent felt Kate tense beneath his hands. He kissed the top of her head and started to shift away. "I suppose I should let you get back to work."

"Uh, what? Oh, yeah, work." Kate blinked rapidly as she was trying to clear the fog from her mind. _What are my feelings for Vincent? _

Kate was still thinking about her possible feelings a couple of days later when she was having lunch with Maggie Hayes, an friend from college days.

"So is there any man in your life now?" Maggie looked coyly at Kate.

Kate choked on the sip of water she was taking and blushed.

"So I have my answer."

"I, uh, have been having feelings for an old flame." Kate finally got it out in the open.

"Do I know this man?" Maggie studied her friend who looked rather uncomfortable with her feelings.

" When you were interviewing with Solomon at the Foundation did I introduce you to Vincent Siminou?"

"No, but if he was that tall, dark and handsome man who was hovering to attend to your every need, I know who you are referring to." Maggie chuckled.

"Oh, God. Really? He was hovering?" Kate was bemused. _Maybe I'm not the only one feeling this way…._

"Like he couldn't get enough of whatever you were saying."

Kate blushed. "Did I ever tell you about our history?"

Maggie could hear the uncertainty in her friend's voice. "He's the man from Paris, right?"

Kate nodded. "Yeah, he broke my heart. But after we helped him get out of Dorna, he's just been a great friend." Kate looked up at Maggie. "Both to me and to Solomon. He was there for us when Haley died and we were trying to get her body from Dorna."

"How did that go?"

"They never let us near the site, and I heard that a few weeks later they dynamited it."

Maggie reached over to take Kate's hand. "I am sorry. For your whole family."

Kate squeezed her hand and smiled. "It can't be changed. But how do I go about seducing Vincent?"

Maggie laughed. "You're asking me relationship advice? Well, start by …."

12 -

Kate was deliriously happy. She was newly married to the man of her dreams, six months pregnant with their first child, and in Paris for a very belated honeymoon. _But does it count as a honeymoon if it's more than a year since the wedding?_

"What are you thinking about?" Vincent smiled down at his wife as they were walking on the Place de la Concorde.

"I was just wondering if we can still call this a honeymoon."

Vincent chuckled. "Of course we can. Or it can be a long due vacation for a very hard working archaeologist."

Kate let out a sigh. "Yes, I work hard, but I always have."

"But now you have to think of more than yourself." Vincent placed his left hard on her belly and felt the baby move beneath his hand.

"Okay, I'll slow down."

Vincent barked out a laugh. "That will be the day."

"I'm not THAT bad. Am I?"

"Only Solomon is worse."

Kate's eyes got that haunted look that Vincent hated to see. "He had a reason to work so hard."

Vincent pulled Kate into his arms. "So he won't miss Haley so much."

"And to finish her work."

"Oh, how touching. Two lovers in Paris." Tollan walked toward them.

Kate stiffened while Vincent moved in front of her. "What do you want, Tollan?" Vincent glowered at his former employer.

"Don't bother with trying to protect your wife, Vincent. There are men all around us who are prepared to take on." Tollan lifted his chin to look down his nose at Vincent. "You have seriously displeased Dorna with your defection." He looked over them to nod at his accomplices. "Put them in the car."

Kate and Vincent were both bound and blindfolded when they were in the car. Tollan told them it was for their own protection, but they both knew better. They were driven for hours, until even Vincent had no idea where they were going. When the car stopped, they were both helped out and up a series of staircases.

"Where have you brought us, Tollan?" Vincent yelled.

"Be patient, Vincent. All will be revealed in due time." Tollan called from the bottom of the stairs.

Vincent and Kate were eventually led into a room and unbound. They heard the door lock behind the goons. The took off their blindfolds to look at each other in confusion.

"Any idea where we are?" Kate was blinking the darkness out of her eyes.

"I lost track about an hour ago. I think they kept doubling back again and again." Vincent moved to see if his wife was alright.

"I'm fine. But a little tired." Kate was more than a little tired, but she was used to being a bit tired since she got pregnant.

"Go and lay down. I'll keep watch." Vincent gently pushed his wife over to huge bed he had spotted a few moments before. "I'll wake you up if anyone comes."

Kate yawned and laid down, falling asleep almost instantly. When she work, the shadows told her that it was dusk.

"Vincent?" She sat up on the edge of the bed, but couldn't see her husband.

"Vincent is not here at the moment." Tollan flicked on the light next to the couch he was sitting on. "He is being held separately for the moment."

"Why did you take us?" Kate was shivering, and not just from the chill in the air.

"Not to get back at Vincent for his defection, if that's what you are thinking." Tollan was enjoying playing the cat to Kate's mouse.

"Then why?" Kate was getting a very bad feeling. _But you always get this feeling when Tollan is around. He's just too creepy._

"Your child cannot be allowed to be born."

Kate couldn't believe her ears. "What does this baby have to do with you?"

"Everything." Tollan stood and began to walk towards Kate.

Kate scooted to the other edge of the bed, but soon met up with the wall. She turned back toward Tollan, who was reaching into his jacket for a syringe. She noticed out of the corners of her eyes that goons were on either side of her, ready to hold her down. _I'm trapped. _

"Don't resist, Kate. I wouldn't want to hurt you."

Kate knew that begging wouldn't get her anywhere. "What is wrong with my baby?"

"Absolutely nothing. But it cannot be born. Dorna won't allow it." Tollan was taking the top off the syringe. "Now hold still please."

Kate felt the syringe plunge into her neck. _It burns. _"What did you give me?" Kate fell to the ground and fainted.

Some time later, Vincent woke up, back in their hotel room in Paris. He looked over at Kate who was next to him in the bed.

"Kate." He shook her slightly.

"Mmmmmm. What?" Kate was very groggy, trying to remember what was going on. _Why was Tollan in my dreams?_

"He wasn't in your dreams. He took us, remember?" Vincent answered Kate's mumbled question.

Kate sat up abruptly. "Then we really were taken out of Paris?"

"Yes."

"To a place with a lot of stairs?

"Yes."

"And Tollan had you taken to another room when I was taking a nap?"

"Yes."

Kate got a horrified look on her face. "Then Tollan injecting me with something wasn't a dream."

"He was probably trying to knock you out for the return trip." Vincent reached for Kate.

"He said the baby couldn't be born. That Dorna wouldn't allow it." Kate felt around her belly, trying to feel if the baby was moving or not.

"What?" Vincent was confused.

Kate looked at Vincent and whispered, "The baby isn't moving."

Vincent looked down at her belly and reached out to it.

A few days later, Vincent and Kate were back in New York to check into a hospital. The doctor they had seen in Paris told them he could not hear a heartbeat for the baby.

Solomon met them at the airport and drove them to the hospital. "I am so sorry, Katie." He looked at her with tears in his eyes.

"He killed my baby." Kate looked at Solomon with dry and slightly wild eyes.

Solomon looked at his brother-in-law. "Any clue to the reason?"

Vincent looked very tired. "None that I can think of. Why would Tollan kill a defenseless infant."

"Because he is psycho jerk who is power hungry." Kate was ready to jump out of the car when it stopped.

"Baby, calm down." Vincent tried to reason with her.

"No, you calm down. You don't have to carry a dead baby inside of you. A baby that you should have fought harder to save from a psycho jerk…." Kate broke down wailing.

Vincent gathered her into his arms. "It's been like this since Paris," he explained to Solomon as the car stopped at the hospital entrance.

The doctors performed a Caesarean section on Kate. She and Vincent had discussed before she went into surgery that they wanted to bury their baby next to Kate's parents.

"It was a boy." Vincent was close to crying as he told this to Solomon.

"Did you guys have a name picked out?" He out a hand on Vincent's shoulder, lending support like Vincent had done only a few years before when Haley died.

"Augustus Hale Siminou. Kate picked it out. Augustus for my father Augustu, and Hale for Haley." He looked at Solomon for approval.

Solomon squeezed his shoulder. "Haley would have loved it. He was a part of her, through Kate. And now she'll watch over him for us."

13 -

A few months went by, but Kate spiraled into a deep depression. Solomon called his father and uncle in to help Vincent decide what to do with the almost catatonic Kate.

"Why doesn't she come back to Rome with me and Terezia? We've been wanting to get that cataloging project off the ground in those storehouses." Paul asked.

Alex clapped his surrogate brother on the back. "I like that idea. And we'll go visit her a lot."

"Vincent, it's all up to you and Kate." Vickie sat on the couch next to him, and put a hand on his fisted hands.

"How will she take being sent away?" Vincent whispered.

"We could make it look like you guys are having a marital spat, and that Solomon and Kate are having a difference of opinion about the Foundation." Alex sat on Vincent's other side.

"This could work." Kate watched as all their eyes turned toward the doorway she was in. She moved over to the couch, and knelt in front of Vincent. "I love with my whole heart, but I need time away from us." Her voice choked. "I have so much guilt inside of me that I want to curl up and die like Gus did."

"It's not your fault." Vincent tried to talk to his wife again.

Kate pulled his head toward her so their foreheads rested together. "I know that, rationally. But my heart can't believe that yet. I need some time away to think." She pulled back and smiled at him. "And cataloging Paul's warehouses is just the kind of busy work I love to do."

"You're a work-a-holic, you know." Vincent smiled and kissed his wife's forehead.

"Just remember that I love you." Kate looked deep into Vincent's eyes.

"And I love you. For as long as we both shall live."


End file.
